Analogy: The vital talent that fuels our minds

We take for granted our ability to reason using analogies, but the skill is at the core of human cognition, argue Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander

Video: How analogies shape our thoughts

The idea of “files” has been carried over into the digital world, helping us to navigate it

(Image: Lars Tunbjork/Agence Vu/Camera Press)

IN 1854, English mathematician George Boole published An Investigation of the Laws of Thought – an influential book whose topic was not psychology, as one might expect, but logic. In Boole’s day, the processes underlying human thinking were assumed to belong to the domain of logic, because everyone knew that what distinguished humans from animals is that we reason while animals do not. This was seen as the hallmark of the human mind. In the 20th century, psychologists studied children’s thinking but paid scant attention to adult thinking, since logic was clearly its key. Around 1960, however, British psychologist Peter Wason found many circumstances in which adult thinking was anything but logical. This led to much research that explored ...

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